Studying the figures

At the end of the school year, a look at how Jerusalem’s education system is faring.

The last day of high school.
(photo credit:MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

Two years ago, one sunny morning in the week after the school year ended, I found out that the Cohens, an American immigrant family who lived on the first floor of my building, were packing up to leave the country. A quick inquiry revealed that it was not the lack of security that was sending them back to their native Connecticut, but a deep conviction that this country – and more specifically, this city – could not provide the kind of education they sought for their teenage daughters.The Cohens explained that they loved the country and loved Jerusalem, but could not accept what they considered a “not Jewish enough nor modern enough education,” and were therefore returning to the US.